Zora Neale Hurston - Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937)

Who was Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960)? 

Hurston’s works which include novels, short stories and plays, show the lives of African Americans in the South. She investigated black folklore in her anthropological work and she influenced numerous authors, securing her legacy as one of the leading female writers of the 20th century. In addition to being a writer, Zora Neale Hourston founded a dramatic arts school at Bethune-Cookman College in 1934 and she had a job as a drama teacher at the North Carolina College for Negroes in Durham. Even though Hurston’s writings earned praise later on in her life, she frequently received inadequate compensation for her writings. As a result, she remained poor and in debt for most of her life. Due to her inability to care for herself, Hurston had to move into the St. Lucie County Welfare Home after years of writing. 

What is the story Their Eyes were Watching God  (1937) about? 

The story, narrated by the protagonist Janie, revolves around love and how she searches for that in four of her love relationships. Initially, she wanted affection from the grandmother who had brought her up. Then, she looked for affection from Logan Killicks, with whom she had her first marriage, but with whom she had a short relationship because he died very soon. He is depicted as a dull old potato farmer whom her grandmother thought would provide Janie with stability. In her third relationship, she was with Joe Starks, with whom she was married for 20 years, and who provided her with financial security and the status as the mayor's wife. In the shadow of her charismatic and ambitious husband Joe, who had a talent for managing people, money and power,  he did not provide Jane with what she needed the most in her lifetime: love and respect, as in the novel we see how he continously mistreats her physically, verbally and mentally. 

·Janie's last relationship was with Tea Cake, and it was the first time she experienced true love and happiness. Tea Cake opened Janie’s eyes to a different kind of life in the Everglades, since in that place, she encountered loving friends and met new people, immersing herself in another community.  Janie's happiness and her marriage lasted for 18 months, until Tea Cake died because he got a serious illness from a terrible hurricane that came to town. 

 

Important quotes from the novel: 

- "Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone. Dawn and doom was in the branches" (40): With this metaphor, Janie's life is portrayed as  a complex and dynamic tree that evokes a range of experiences, both joyful and painful. The “dawn and doom” depicted in the branches represents the duality of life’s moments, emphasizing the relationship between hope and despair that she goes through in her life. 

- "Janie had spent most of the day under a blossoming pear tree in the back-yard. She had been spending every minute that she could steal from her chores under that tree for the last three days. That was to say, ever since the first tiny bloom had opened. It had called her to come and gaze on a mystery. From barren brown stems to glistening leaf-buds; from the leaf-buds to snowy virginity of bloom. It stirred her tremendously. How? Why? It was like a flute song forgotten in another existence and remembered again. What? How? Why? This singing she heard that had nothing to do with her ears. The rose of the world was breathing out smell. It followed her through all her waking moments and caressed her in her sleep. It connected itself with other vaguely felt matters that had struck her outside observation and buried themselves in her flesh. Now they emerged and quested about her consciousness" (42): This quote shows Janie's coming to consciousness regarding nature and her own longings. The blossoming pear tree symbolizes new beginnings and the beauty of life, evoking deep emotions and a sense of mystery that connects Janie to her own emerging femininity and desire for love.

- "Oh to be a pear tree—any tree in bloom! With kissing bees singing of the beginning of the world! She was sixteen. She had glossy leaves and bursting buds and she wanted to struggle with life but it seemed to elude her. Where were the singing bees for her? Nothing on the place nor in her grandma’s house answered her. She searched as much of the world as she could from the top of the front steps and then went on down to the front gate and leaned over to gaze up and down the road. Looking, waiting, breathing short with impatience. Waiting for the world to be made" (43): Janie demonstrates a desire for the fulfillment and vitality represented by the blossoming tree. At the age of sixteen, she feels constrained and yearns for the pleasures of life.

-  She knew now that marriage did not make love. Janie’s first dream was dead, so she became a woman" (57): Through this recognition, Janie comes to understand that social constructs such as marriage do not ensure emotional fulfillment. This represents a crucial moment in her development as a woman, as she becomes aware of the gap between her ideals and her reality.

- TREATED AS AN OBJECT TO BE OBSERVED: "That night he ordered Janie to tie up her hair around the store. That was all. She was there in the store for him to look at, not those others. But he never said things like that. It just wasn’t in him" (91): This quote shows Joe’s tendency to objectify Janie. He establishes control over her by determining how she looks and behaves, therefore diminishing her identity to that of an object to be seen and owned, rather than one characterized by autonomy and uniqueness.

-VIOLENCE OF THE HUSBAND: "Not that he wanted anybody else, but just too many women would be glad to be in her place. He ought to box her jaws! But he didn’t feel like fighting today, so he made an attack upon her position backhand" (99) + "She wasn’t petal-open anymore with him. She was twenty-four and seven years married when she knew. She found that out one day when he slapped her face in the kitche" (110): These quotes show Joe's oppressive conduct toward Janie, as he personifies toxic masculinity and jealousy. His need to assert dominance is mirrored in his physical violence, while the emotional suppression Janie experiences highlights the decline of her spirit within their marriage.

-SHE KEEPS HER INNER EMOTIONS AND DESIRES FOR HERSELF: "She found that she had a host of thoughts she had never expressed to him, and numerous emotions she had never let Jody know about. Things packed up and put away in parts of her heart where he could never find them. She was saving up feelings for some man she had never seen. She had an inside and an outside now and suddenly she knew how not to mix them". (111) + "The years took all the fight out of Janie’s face. For a while she thought it was gone from her soul. No matter what Jody did, she said nothing." (116): The quotes highlight Janie’s inner conflicts and the emotional burden her marriage has placed on her. She learns to keep her emotions for herself, demonstrating the conflict between her inner self and outer existence. 

-THE DEATH OF JOE AND HER INNER AND OUTER APPEARANCE: Janie starched and ironed her face and came set in the funeral behind her veil. It was like a wall of stone and steel. The funeral was going on outside. All things concerning death and burial were said and done. Finish. End. Never-more. Darkness. Deep hole. Dissolution. Eternity. Weeping and wailing outside. Inside the expensive black folds were resurrection and life (129): This quote shows Janie's effort to display a calm appearance at Joe's funeral while hiding her inner feelings. Her inner resurrection and liberation are emphasized by the contrast between public mourning and the sense of life that is awakening within her. 

-AGAIN SHE IS TREATED AS AN OBJECT TO BE POSSESSED: "When Mrs. Turner’s brother came and she brought him over to be introduced, Tea Cake had a brainstorm. Before the week was over he had whipped Janie. Not because her behavior justified his jealousy, but it relieved that awful fear inside him. Being able to whip her reassured him in possession. No brutal beating at all. He just slapped her around a bit to show he was boss" (190): Further on in her life, she develops a relationship with a man called Tea Cake, with whom we still see the themes of control and jealousy that were happening in her previous relationship. His manifestation of anger shows the toxic masculinity that is still present in her life.

-SHE IS ACCUSED OF KILLING HER LAST HUSBAND:  "It was not death she feared. It was misunderstanding. If they made a verdict that she didn’t want Tea Cake and wanted him dead, then that was a real sin and a shame. It was worse than murder" (237).

Works Cited: Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes were Watching God. 1937.